


Red

by rosensilence



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Artist Ben Solo, Hux Has No Chill, M/M, Modern AU, One Night Stands, Second-Hand Embarrassment, hopefully ben will make sure he will, hux needs to get laid more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 12:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14402022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosensilence/pseuds/rosensilence
Summary: It's the morning of the most important day of Hux's career, and he wakes up in a strange bed next to the hot guy he went home with.  He's never had a one night stand before and knows it was a mistake to do so now, but it's not as if Hux is ever going to see the guy again, right...?





	Red

Hux’s first thought when he woke up, was that he felt rested, sated and warm in a way that he hadn’t felt in months.  

His second thought was that his bed felt more comfortable than he remembered, that the pillows were fluffier, the comforter thicker, and it was all wrapped up in a soothing spicy scent that he didn’t recall smelling before.

His third, and most pressing thought, was that this wasn’t his bed.

He opened his eyes as quickly as his sleepy state would allow him to, and took in the pale blue walls of the bedroom around him, the abstract art on the walls and the heap of black clothes piled high on a chair in the corner and realized that this really wasn’t his bedroom.

It was this realization that brought the previous night crashing back into his mind with the force of six tequila slammers.

His first mistake had been listening to Phasma when she’d said that the best cure for nerves on the night before the biggest day of your professional career, was to dance the night away.  His second to seventh mistake, had been the previously mentioned six tequila slammers.

If Hux had to guess, he’d say that his eighth, and most pressing mistake, was still sleeping behind him.

Hux didn’t know what had come over him last night.  He could understand why he’d gone out with Phasma, because nobody said no to a determined Phasma, but going home with someone?  That was something that Armitage Hux in his grand 34 years upon this planet had never done before. He’d had relationships in the past, and even a friends with benefits arrangement during his stressful university years, but a one night stand with a stranger was something new for him.

He blamed the tequila slammers.

Phasma had, of course, taken him to one of DC’s most happening gay bars.  Hux didn’t particularly care for the scene in Washington, but he had to admit that if you wanted to dance like there was no tomorrow, then there was no better place.  The Guy—as Hux was thinking of him because he couldn’t quite remember his name—had been leaning against the bar when Hux had gone to buy his second drink of the night.

Only the second drink of the night.  Maybe Hux couldn’t blame those tequila slammers after all.

But The Guy had been gorgeous, as far as Hux could recall. He was too nervous to turn around and look, so he allowed his still sleep mussed mind to reconstruct what The Guy looked like.  Tall and broad, with thick, long pullable black hair, pretty brown eyes, kissable red lips, long strong legs and big hands. It had been the hands that had first drawn Hux’s attention, as they’d been clutched around a beer bottle in a way that made Hux wonder how they’d look clutched around something else.

They’d danced, those hands had ended up on his ass, there’d been tongues involved at some point, and after Hux’s sixth tequila slammer had left him grinding away on The Guy’s thigh like his life depended on it, they’d called an Uber and rolled back to The Guy’s place.

From what Hux could recall, the sex had been good.  Very good. Far better than half drunk, first time sex with a complete stranger had any right to be.

It had been just what he’d needed to unwind and relieve his stress ahead of the high pressure, career defining day he had ahead of him.

_Fuck!_

Hux scrambled out of The Guy’s bed, and desperately looked around the bedroom in the hope of finding a clock.  He had no idea what time it was, or even where he was, and he had to be at the office before 8am as this was the day that would make or break his career.

After the initial rush of panic at there being no visible clocks in the bedroom subsided, he noticed that his cell phone was sitting on the bedside cabinet, plugged in and recharged at 100% battery.  Huh. Hux was pretty sure he’d left his phone in his pants pocket, and he’d lost those somewhere in the living room, so that meant The Guy must have got up during the night and had been kind enough to charge his phone for him.

His phone said it was just before 6am, and a quick look at Google Maps showed that he was only a few blocks away from his own apartment, leaving Hux enough time to go home, shower, make himself presentable for the biggest day of his life, and get into the office.  In fact, there was enough time for Hux to look at the lump that was still slumbering on the opposite side of the bed, something that Hux had pointedly avoided looking at.

The first thing he saw was the smooth, broad expanse of a muscled back that led down to a well defined and equally muscled ass.  That ass was distracting, and Hux distinctly remembered being distracted by it last night, so he carefully rearranged the comforter he’d recklessly thrown off moments earlier so that it covered The Guy again.  The curve of The Guy’s bicep was still visible, and a shiver ran down Hux’s spine as he remembered how easily he’d been picked up and shoved against the door after they’d fallen into the bedroom.

He could get used to treatment like that.

He could get used to dating guys with longer hair too, instead of the more office appropriate crew cuts that Hux usually favored.  It had felt so good when it had trailed across his stomach and thighs as The Guy had sucked him off, and pulling on it had produced such lovely moans in that sinfully deep voice…

Hux could feel his cock stirring to life as thoughts of the night before ran through his mind.  He consulted the clock on his phone one last time, decided that there was no time for a second round, and willed his growing erection away.  Was it even the done thing to have a repeat performance the next morning, or would that break some unwritten one night stand etiquette that Hux didn’t know about?

As Hux pondered that query, he suddenly became aware of his nakedness, and searched the bedroom for his underwear.  He had a distinct memory of The Guy pulling them off with his teeth after they’d fallen onto the bed and then casually throwing them over his impressively thick shoulders, so they should be somewhere…

Hux found them on top of another chair, neatly folded alongside of all of his other equally neatly folded clothing.  Well, at least Hux had broken his one night stand virginity with someone who had manners.

He picked up his clothes and phone, took one last look at The Guy… Kyle was it?..., and left the room.

Hux wasted no time in dressing and quickly checked that he had everything he needed.  House keys, wallet, phone… check, check and check. He quickly headed for the front door, doing his best not to look at the couch as his body remembered how it had felt when he’d pressed Kyle down into the soft cushions and finally got his hands on Kyle’s impressive chest before trying to fuck it dry.

Maybe lube, next time.

Hux groaned and ran his hand over his face.  There would be no next time, and he had to stop himself from thinking like there would be.  They hadn’t swapped numbers, and he hadn’t even given Kyle his name, instead the other man had just called him ‘Red’ all night.

But, Armitage Hux was nothing if not polite, and Kyle had been nice enough to collect up Hux’s clothes and charge his phone for him.  Hux paused just before he reached the front door and took a little detour to the kitchen next to it, quickly finding a sketchbook and pen lying around on the counter.  He quickly flicked past pages full of drawings that he paid no attention to, and found a blank page near the back. Hux wasn’t exactly sure what one should write when saying goodbye to a man you didn’t know, but had spent the night fucking through the mattress, so he settled for polite distance.

_Thank you for taking the time to charge my phone and collect together my clothes.  I appreciate it._

It read like something he’d send to a work colleague, but it’d have to do.  He hastily added a line about having enjoyed himself, signed it as ‘Red’, and bolted out the door while calling another Uber.

**

He’d made it to the office fully showered, presentable, and with an uncharacteristic spring in his step at 7:50am.  As 8am arrived and passed, the office became a hive of activity and Hux found his mind drifting far away from soft brown eyes and biteable lips.

It wasn’t everyday that your senator announced that she was running for president, and Hux had spent weeks working closely with Senator Organa on her speech.  As her campaign manager, speech writer and senior aide, he had almost as much riding on her presidential bid as Leia herself did. As he'd stood and watched her deliver his words with perfection to the country’s media, he had felt a sinking feeling building in his stomach.

With a presidential bid came a level of scrutiny far beyond what senators usually had to deal with.  As it stood Leia was the favorite to get the party nomination too, so that meant that both the opposition and members of her own party would be sharpening the knives to find any dirt on her that they could.  Leia’s long time friend and aide, Ms. Holdo, had already been tasked with getting Leia’s wayward son on board for her bid—although he was suspiciously absent from the announcement itself—and both her husband and twin brother had even managed to shower, shave and find suits for the occasion.

Although, General Solo looked like he’d rather set his suit on fire with jet fuel than wear it again.

Hux knew though that the scrutiny and investigations would spread further just than Leia’s immediate family.  It would stretch to her aides too, and picking up random people in bars for a one night stand was not behavior fitting of a senior aide.  It didn’t matter if it was just once, he’d put both his job and Leia’s reputation at risk. 

Luckily, Hux hadn’t given Kyle his name and he always avoided the cameras as much as he could, so unless Kyle was an avid follower of politics, it was unlikely he’d ever see Hux’s face.

Hux’s worries and thoughts were interrupted by the sound of thunderous applause, and he realized that he’d fretted all of the way through the second half of Leia’s speech.  He quickly joined in with the applause and plastered a smile on his face, just in time to catch a nod of thanks from Leia. He could tell from the relief on her face and the whispers of the journalists around him that the speech had gone well and that it had been a strong start to Leia’s campaign.

As Hux took his place by Senator Organa’s side as she left the room and the noise of the press conference behind, he vowed not to do anything else to jeopardize her bid for the presidency.

**

It had taken several hours, but Hux had finally finished ploughing through all of the interview requests from the media that had swarmed in after Leia’s speech and had Leia’s schedule for the next two weeks fully booked out.  Requests had come from all over the national TV, press and radio political spectrum, and there were even some appointments with the international media sprinkled in there too. Leia’s speech had set the political world alight as Hux had expected would happen when the daughter of former president Anakin Skywalker threw her hat into the presidential ring.

By the time Hux signed out of the office and said farewell to the poor press officer that had been keeping him company during the tedious scheduling, it had been nearly 10pm.  All Hux had wanted at that point was to go home to his own apartment and to collapse into bed, but he had one last appointment to make before he could.

Now that her public duties for the day were over, Leia was having a party at her private residence to celebrate the successful start of her presidential campaign.  When she’d left Hux in the office several hours earlier she’d made it clear that she expected Hux to make an appearance, and Hux knew better than to ignore a direct request from Leia Organa, no matter how much he wanted to.

When he arrived at Leia’s lavish apartment, the party was already in full swing.  General Solo had lost his suit jacket and tie somewhere and had instead found the brandy; Leia’s brother Luke was ministering to a junior aide that looked like she wanted to disappear to wherever Solo’s tie was; and Leia herself was holding court in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of donors, supportive fellow party members, and minor celebrities.

Hux acknowledged General Solo’s greeting but deftly sidestepped the drunk hug he was nearly pulled into, and instead headed directly for Leia herself.  His plan was to show his face, shake a few hands, and to be back in his car and heading home within fifteen minutes. It was ambitious, but Hux hadn’t gotten as far in life as he had without knowing how to work—and then quickly leave—a party.  Besides, after the last 24 hours he’d had, socializing and drinking were both joint bottom of Hux’s to-do list.

“Armitage!” Leia exclaimed happily when she saw him.  “The man of the hour!”

Hux sighed inwardly.  She only ever called him Armitage when she was drunk.  His hopes of escaping in fifteen minutes were looking slim.  “Senator Organa, I’m glad to see you in such high spirits this evening.”

“It’s all because of your amazing speech!  Here, have a drink and call me Leia like I always tell you to.”

Hux fixed a false smile to his face when Leia grabbed a drink from a passing gentleman that Hux was pretty sure was not part of the waiting staff, and was instead one of the senators from Oregon that were backing her bid.  “I can’t take all of the credit for that speech, Sena… Leia.”

“He’s so modest,” Leia said to the lady standing next to her.  Hux had no idea who she was, and he didn’t think that Leia did either.

“That’s kind of you to say, but—”

“Oh, Armitage!  I have someone I want you to meet.”

Leia grabbed him by the wrist in a grip that was surprisingly strong for a woman that had been a politician practically all of her life, and it was all Hux could do to stop the dubious looking drink in his hand from spilling over his Burberry dress shoes.  She dragged him through the crowd, greeting everyone she passed as Hux apologized to them for the inconvenience and the number of toes she was treading on along the way.

She finally came to a stop in the far corner of the room, a few steps away from a couple of people that were deep in conversation.  The man had his broad back to Hux and Leia, but Hux recognized the young lady as Leia’s adopted niece, Rey. She was following in her Uncle Han’s footsteps by carving out a promising career in the air force, and when she locked eyes with Hux, he nodded his head in greeting.

“Ben!” Leia screeched, ensuring she was heard over the din in the room.  “You have to meet Armitage.”

Ah, so this was the wayward son.  Hux knew that the relationship between Ben Solo and his parents was strained—Ben preferred the anonymous life of a struggling artist over the lifestyles his parents had both chosen—but he was pleased to see that Ben was supporting Leia’s presidential bid.  There was a part of Hux that was grudgingly impressed by Ben’s low profile too, as he’d dealt with enough arrogant trust fund babies to last him a lifetime. The fact that the youngest blood member of the Skywalker dynasty could be so anonymous that even Hux didn’t know what he looked like, was nothing short of a minor miracle.

Ben turned around, and Hux felt all of the color drain from his face.

_FuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!_

It was The Guy.

Kyle.

It was the man that Hux had gone home with last night, ridden until his thighs ached, and then ran out on this morning.

And from the sudden widening of Ben’s eyes and the light blush that spread across his cheeks, it seemed that he recognized Hux just as quickly as Hux recognized him.

Time had seemed to pause when Hux first locked eyes with Ben, but all too quickly it came rushing back and Hux suddenly became all too aware that his employer was standing next to him.  Leia was watching the lingering silence between the two men with drunken confusion—although it seemed that Rey was more amused—and Hux was sure that the women could feel the awkwardness just as strongly as he could.

Hux retreated back to his professional manners, and stuck out his hand.  “Armitage Hux. I’m pleased to finally meet you, Mr. Solo. I’ve heard so much about you from your mother.  I’m so glad that you’re here to support Leia’s bid for the presidency, and I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Ben still looked like a deer in the headlights, but he shook Hux’s hand with a firmness that reminded Hux of how firm those hands had been on other parts of his anatomy the night before.  Hux shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and felt like jumping out of the nearest window just to get out of there.

He could survive a jump from the 22nd floor, right?

Then Ben was talking, and Hux found himself hanging onto every word that smooth voice said.  “Pleased to meet you, too. So it was you that wrote that wonderful speech today? With a guy like you by her side, how can my mother possibly lose?”

There was a bite to those last few words that did not bode well for Hux, he thought.  Maybe Ben was angry that Hux had ran out on him that morning. All it would take was a few words from Ben, and Hux could easily be out of a job.

“Benny!” Leia said, reaching forward to grab hold of Ben’s collar as he grimaced at the nickname, “what’s that?”

Hux ceased his internal panicking and watched with a confusion that soon gave way to even more panic when Leia pulled down Ben’s collar to expose what was most certainly, a bite mark in the shape of Hux’s mouth on Ben’s neck.  Now that he thought about it, he could remember biting down and sucking at the sweet skin on Ben’s neck while he’d been held up and pressed against Ben’s bedroom door.

He didn’t think it’d mark that much though.

Ben pulled out of Leia’s grasp and smoothed his collar back up, trying his best to mask the mark from the prying eyes of his mother and cousin.  “That is none of your business, mother.”

“Someone got laid,” Rey said teasingly.

“It’s none of your business, either.”

With that Ben stormed away, but not before fixing Hux with an icy glare and purposely shoulder charging him out of the way.  Hux barely noticed the drops of liquor that fell onto his sleeve as he was too busy worrying about how pissed Ben was with him.  Would Ben be angry enough to tell Leia what had happened between them?

He had to talk to him.

Leia and Rey were too busy hypothesizing about the origin of Ben’s love bite to pay too much attention to Hux when he went running after him, but Hux had a slight suspicion that Rey had noticed that his exit followed the same route as her cousin’s.  Thankfully Ben was an easy figure to track—even through a dense crowd of people at a party—and Hux finally caught up with him in the cloak room.

Ben was putting his jacket on as if he had a personal vendetta against it, and Hux was worried for the fabric.  “Can I speak to you in private, please?”

It appeared that Ben hadn’t heard Hux enter the little room and hadn’t expected him to follow either, as he looked just as surprised as he had when he’d seen Hux for the first time minutes earlier.  He quickly recovered though. “What do you want?”

“This isn’t usual behavior for me.”

“What?  You don’t usually accost strangers in a cloak room when they just want to go home?”

Ben stared at him with an intensity that made Hux want to walk away.  Instead, he stood his ground. “I was talking about last night.”

“And what do you think happened last night?”

Hux had heard from Leia about Ben’s tendency to be obstinate and answer purely in questions, but he hadn’t believed how truly frustrating it could be to be on the receiving end.  “I don’t make a habit of going home with people and having one night stands.”

“Are you trying to tell me I’m special?” Ben asked.  Before Hux could answer, he continued speaking. “No, that’s not it.  You’re worried that I’ll tell Leia, and you’ll lose your job.”

“I’m just saying that I won’t do anything that could reflect badly on Leia,” Hux said calmly.  “I suggest you do the same.”

“I’m not the one that ran out this morning without saying goodbye.”

Hux paused.  Ben’s cheeks were reddening again, but Hux couldn’t tell if it was from anger, or from something else.  Ben had sounded almost disappointed when he’d just spoken, and his body language had shifted from brash and aggressive, to almost shy.  He’d seen that change last night too, when the lust and passion had given way to drying sweat and a post orgasmic awkward silence. The confidence and charm that Ben had radiated since they’d first shared bedroom eyes at the bar had disappeared then, to be replaced by an uncertainty and insecurity that had only gone when Hux had climbed back into bed and curled up next to him.

“I didn’t have time to wake you, but I did leave a note.”

“What note?” Ben asked, confusion lacing his voice, “I didn’t see a note.”

“I wrote it in your sketchbook, the one in the kitchen.”

Ben ran his hand through his hair and looked at Hux with disbelieving eyes.  That hair had felt so soft when Hux had lost his fingers in it. He wanted to pull on it again.  

“You wrote in my sketchpad.  You mean the one that’s 90% full of my drawings?” Ben asked.

“It seemed to be pretty full, yes.”

“And you didn’t think to, I don’t know, leave the sketchpad open?  Tear out the page and put it on the fridge? How was I to know that you’d written a note in my private sketchpad?  Was I supposed to go rifling through every pad of paper in my apartment in case you’d left a note?”

“Well, when you phrase it like that, it does sound a little stupid,” Hux agreed.  “Not the brightest idea I’ve had, I must admit.”

Ben laughed, but there was no mirth in that laugh, just self deprecation.  “Seems you’ve had a few stupid ideas recently.”

“They haven’t all been stupid,” Hux answered honestly.

Ben smiled then, and although there was still a little shyness coloring the edges of it, it appeared genuine.  “I won’t tell Leia. It’ll be our little secret,” he said, buttoning up his jacket.

“Thank you,” Hux said sincerely.  Then his mouth just kept going. “I meant it when I said I don’t make a habit of going home with people I’ve picked up in bars.  I’ve honestly never done it before.”

Ben looked genuinely surprised by Hux’s confession.  “Why did you break your streak with me?”

“Because you’re—” Hux found that he couldn’t complete his sentence, and just waved his hand in Ben’s general direction instead.

It had been the complete package that was Ben that made Hux go home with him.  At first it had been those hands and everything that went with them, but then they’d talked and Hux had found himself smiling in a way that he never normally did with strangers.  Their conversation had then gone through several tequila slammers and moved to the dance floor, and Hux had become acquainted with Ben’s hands and mouth in several other ways. When Ben had suggested they move on from the club to somewhere more private, there was no part of Hux that had wanted to decline the invitation.

It surprised Hux to realize that even now, despite the concerns he’d had for his job and the awkwardness of finding out The Guy had been his boss’s son while standing next to his boss, he didn’t regret it.

“You’re not so bad yourself, Red,” Ben replied, some of the previous night’s confidence creeping back into his voice.  “And you’re cute when you blush.”

Was he blushing?  Probably, Hux thought.

“Are you staying for the rest of the party?” Ben asked.

“I didn’t plan on staying, no.”

“Well, I’ve not eaten since 3pm and there’s a great 24 hour pizza joint around the corner.  You could come with me.”

Hux was torn.  He was incredibly tired, and did want nothing more than to go home and sleep until his third alarm call the next morning, but spending time with Ben—  He had been incredibly easy to speak to in the bar, and he was looking at Hux with softest and sweetest eyes—

“And, it won’t be a one night stand anymore if it happens twice,” Ben said with a wink.

Hux laughed then.  They might not see eye to eye all of the time, but the son definitely had the charm of his father.  It was good to see that Ben’s charm had returned after his earlier shyness. “Why don’t we start with pizza, and then see how the night goes?”

“Sure,” Ben agreed.  “Just try to leave any love bites below the collar line this time, Red.”

Hux held the cloakroom door open, allowing Ben to leave first and Hux’s eyes to roam one more time over Ben’s ass.  It looked especially good in those dress pants. “I make no promises, Kyle.”

“Kylo.”

“Not Ben?”

“Whatever you want, Red, whatever you want.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come and say hello at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rosensilence) or [Tumblr](http://rosensilence.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
